In addition to that fact is the fact that the number of people on food stamps has increased exponentially, so Walmart complaining about food stamp cuts makes no sense whatsoever. Their customer base purchasing with food stamps should be increasing, not decreasing. Of course, it is very probable that a lot of the food stamp money is being used to buy burgers & fries at McDonalds & Burger King as well as food at convenience stores. It has been my observation after having worked with welfare recipients and others with low incomes that most of them have no clue about how to stretch their money to get the most out of it. You can easily witness this fact at any Walmart at the beginning of the month when they have their food stamp money. Check out the carts. The overwhelming number will be filled with convenience foods, snacks, sodas, sugary cereals, and expensive meats. Very few will have actual staples in their carts such as rice, beans, or potatoes. If Michele Obama was really interested in Americans cutting back on the crap and eating more healthy diets, she could easily start by having her husband mandate (by executive order of course as he typically does) that recipients of food stamp money can no longer purchase fast food and junk food with their EBT cards. But that's not gonna happen. They won't want to get their base mad at them.
I think the Execs at Wal-Mart are covering their asses for the Wall Street analysts, which is typical for publicly traded companies that miss forecast.